We went to my Daughter's for T-giving. Well, actually, her in-laws. Was able to spend time with both my kids and all 3 of my grandkids. It was wonderful. We seldom all get together as the same time anymore.

I didn't cook or bake anything, so I did the cleaning up. Worked for me. :-)

Food was great, food was great and we had a great time.

I worked all day. It wasn't very busy.

Nice quiet day. Food turned out well, if a bit ordinary. Weather was sunny and cool on 'the day', it's been sunny and cold today. People and dogs are all getting along. I got my booster shot today and daughter is getting hers tomorrow. All in all, not a particularly memorable holiday celebration but that's okay, not every event has to be spectacular.

We're having ours tomorrow due to work schedules (Cops and nurses don't always get holidays off!)

We have pretty much prepped everything today (and didn't cook tonight!)

The twins can eat pretty much everything these days, but I bought some extra fruit for them....just in case!

Don't you have cell phones where you live?

My Thanksgiving was wonderful because all my children, their spouses and my 3 adorable little grandchildren were here. Food was good. I have been recovering from bronchitis so made easy things. On Wednesday I made hashbrown casserole, green bean casserole and some dressing. Kept in the refrigerator and baked in the oven on Thursday. I cooked the turkey in my large Nesco roaster and had Rhodes dinner rolls. My DIL made cupcakes for dessert because we were celebrating my granddaughters 2nd birthday.. I also had a fruit platter purchased from Wegmans.

It went smoothly! We have been adjusting our holiday meal plans for the last few years, and this year may have been the start of the next stage of tradition. Kind of a return to the past, just missing our parents and the ever-changing machinations we went through to celebrate together.

I think the only mishap may have been that I forgot to open the Beaujolais Nouveau, which we really like for Thanksgiving. But we had plenty of wine so no problem!

Music was Vivaldi, The Four Seasons. It is a nice accompaniment to a festive dinner.

We had leftovers tonight, and we still have some turkey and cranberries for sandwiches Saturday, and potatoes. TWO pies; not enough people wanted to take some home! DH made an apple pie crust with pecans, and is it ever good. But I’m partial to pumpkin.

My brother brought a quart of whipping cream, and I had bought a pint, and we were only 7 people, so there is a lot of whipping cream left over. I think I will use all that extra to practice different tools and methods and techniques to whip it this weekend.

So nice when your SO prefers your cooking to his mother's! Mine does too. MIL isn't a _bad_ cook, just not an inspired one. And for years every time I suggested fish pie, he though of his mother's and said, "no thanks". One day I just went ahead and made my idea of a fish pie, and now it's a regular request :-)

Glad everyone had an OK if not excellent day!

Angelaid, why would you ask that?

Fish pie? That's a new one for me.

Fish pie is excellent, Elmer. I must say I panicked a bit when an English friend said that was what we were having at her house one day, but it's delicious. Fish and mashed potatoes, kinda like shepherd's pie or hachis Parmentier, but for fish.

This is the recipe I use now (more or less.)

https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/luxury-smoked-fish-pie/

Thanks for the info, Zalco. I don't think that would work for me - I'm okay with butter but otherwise I dislike seafood with dairy products like milk or cream or cheese. That recipe has all three.

Ours was exceptionally good. Turkey was perfect, as were all the sides. We shared in bringing the sides and desseerts and my brother and SiL hosted st their new home. Brother #2 and his wife have just moved to be near us and their oldest daughter, her husband & 3 grandchildren who were also there. We enjoyed it a lot, especially watching the 8 month old crawl around and eat everything he was fed.

Zalco, I probably should have added that panic while at the mercy of an English cook is an experience I've had a few times. Once on a visit over there we spent a few days with an English couple, our friends of long standing, at their country house. We were enjoying a rare fine afternoon in the garden when the female member of the couple announced she had something in mind for dinner and would be going to visit the fishmonger in town to get fresh fish. Our offers to accompany here were turned down, she wanted to surprise us.

We'd stepped into the fishmonger's a few days earlier on a walking visit to town and marveled at the display that included wonderful fresh fish - cod, monkfish, huge scallops, turbot, mussels, cockles, and lots of other good stuff. The prospect of fresh fish for dinner was delightful, of course. We weren't allowed into the kichen until dinner was prepared and ready to be served. Imagine our surprise (and horror) to learn she'd bought fresh mackerel, roasted them, hacked them into steaks (not filets) and served mackerel salad for dinner. I don't know if others like mackerel, I don't. It was awful.

Ours was very good. My ds flew in from Georgia, my sister, niece and nephew flew in from Florida. Both of my dds were home too. On Wednesday we went to my brothers and had soup (I made potato and my dsil make Vegetable Beef, we also had salad, bread and desserts). On Thursday we had the regular Thanksgiving meal at my house and my dsis was a big help in helping cook everything. We've played lots of games and laughed a lot! My sister, niece and nephew leave tomorrow at 3;00 and my son leaves on Sunday. Overall we have had a great weekend.

I don't know how you do it, Marilyn C! I hope you feel less achy today. You are so good to your animals.

Elmer, the question at the top was, 'How was your Thanksgiving?'

Instead of talking about your dislike of fish and cream, how about sharing 'how was your Thanksgiving?'

WE went to my daughters three miles away. I took over roasted veggies, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, onions, turnips, and beets. We had the traditional food for just the six of us and sil did the turkey outside in his fancy new oven. This was the smallest gathering ever with just us, the three of them, and sil's mother. His dad died two years ago. Our son and wife came at five with a homemade cake and we all left at 9. Ironically I thought the best food served was the untraditional (for us northerners) mac and cheese grandson picked up when he was at Willliam &Mary. He used the Ina Garten recipe and it was the best I ever had and I told him. I thought my mothers was wonderful but this was heaven. Daughter said you don't even want to know why it's so good...try heavy cream and four kinds of cheese and truffle cheese topping.

In recent years when the two of us have not had guests, we haven't done a single day feast. Instead we have one or two of our traditional Thanksgiving Day dishes on each of four to five days. Yesterday I was conscious that I had not overeaten the way I used to do on TG with all the dishes available at once-- yet another thing for which to be thankful.

We stopped having a traditional TG several years ago, and we are both happier for that. On some years, I will make the traditional stuffing, but I also make that on many other days besides Thanksgiving.

We made pizzas yesterday and were very happy with that, even though we make pizza fairly often. Even so, it does seem somewhat special.

While cooking pizza #1, the tank ran out of gas, but the pizza still got done enough. although the oven was not all that hot at the end. It was still crispy enough, and we saved half of this pizza for leftovers.

Pizza #2 got cooked the way I like it, with crispy edges all around.

Both of these pizzas are 11" diameter, and I am beginning to think that I should increase the amount of dough I make for these, so that I can get more of an edge. The recipe that I am using now requires me to stretch all of the dough to get to 11" diameter without allowing for a puffy edge. I could also make the pizzas a bit smaller, but I like this size.

YUM pizza for turkey day! Can't beat that!!!!!

We had tenderloin steaks, baked potato and a nice salad. We always do our own thing nowadays since the in-laws are all busy with their own extended families. I have to say that this steak from Sam's Club was the best steak I have ever had and I cooked it on the gas grill just right, not too done not too red...just perfect! We are such loners and just enjoy doing our own thing. Nice quiet relaxing Thanksgiving.

Amy, I think they were wondering why your SO didn't call and let you know what was going on. I have to say, that was also my first thought "don't y'all have cell phones?" I would have been worried sick if my husband was supposed to be home in a couple of hours and never made it home....unless this is typical of your SO?

Went off w/o a hitch at our home. Offspring and spouse all arrived on schedule. Everyone brought a contribution to our holiday table. All was exceptional. The men were particularly proud of the pink smoke ring visible in the breast meat of our bird. Plenty of time for card games and making our festive porch pots, even topped off the day with a holiday movie, which I'll admit I fell asleep during. Perfect day!!

Ours went very well, just the 2 of us with a traditional menu most of which was from the garden. My sister had invited us to join her & hubby since it looked like they would be alone on TGD this year (which is sad for her, but not for us). By last week her invite list had expanded to 10 people so I told her that we'd stay home now since she has plenty of company and a 10 seat table.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at our vacation home. It was just the three of us, as my parents have both passed, and as first generation American, my extended family are all in other countries. I like to make the whole thing and got up early to cook, my husband and son are good helpers. This year, I made a smaller bird (13.5 pounds) which was perfect for Thanksgiving day plus leftovers on Black Friday. In previous years I have made too big of a bird and leftovers were a burden. Weather has been beautiful, so we took a nice walk, had a fire, enjoyed a glass of wine.

Sunday, we are attending a Mediterranean themed potluck Friendsgiving. Our son will get to play with his friends and we will enjoy catching up with their parents and trying other people's dishes.

Marilyn, you are amazing.

Fantastic food! I cooked . ☺ LOVE the smell of roasting turkey! DH shopped online, for pick-up the next day. The kittens were running through the house, stopping to do "slap fights", throwing their own pink puffy balls. ☺ Very entertaining.

Amy....what a day you had! Your cooking does sound A M A Z I N G ! ♥

Marilyn....Your so hard working. ♥

@Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)...Yum!

Everything was good except the turkey. I bought roasted, carved turkey from Wegman’s and ithought it was kind of rubbery. Their gravy was good. i tried a new recipe for cranberry fruit sauce and it was yummy. I still had cranberry sauce from the can since it is tradition!

We ended upwith three pies for three people. Apple, pumpkinand pecan. We each had a slice of each. i said it was like turducken for pie. All were delicious.

It was a lovely, low key get together.

Marilyn, you amaze me.

I went on a long trail ride. I got to ride my old horse. I had so much fun on her. My trainer said every time he turned around I was grinning from ear to ear. I only got to ride my sweet Lady because he had to use my horse for the guy who rides her after me once a week. I told him I wanted to take her out more often. So many horses, adventures ahead and a new discipline I want to start with so little time. We have very long get-around-to-it list.

Still recovering from my injuries and messed up something new but life is good. I rode Friday and have one more tomorrow. Then I am taking the next week off to recover more fully.

Spent the rest of the day with DH at home. time for us, no stress.

We had chili with football on Thanksgiving Day. All was good. Our team won! I made Lemon Squares for dessert for the first time in years. They were soooo good.

Friday was the day we had a more traditional dinner at DD’s in-laws. DSIL smoked a couple of turkey breasts and his dad smoked or roasted a huge prime rib. Both of the meats were done to perfection. The sides were plentiful and good, and fairly traditional. For dessert, I opted for another roll and another glass of wine. 😉

Since people are still checking in, I will share my Thanksgiving too. I was supposed to go to a niece's house but three adults came down with Covid so I decided to have my own celebration at home. I invited an elderly lady, a neighbor, who has no living family and another neighbor, who's a friend and wasn't having Thanksgiving until today so she could come. She is a retired teacher. I suspect we are all about 10 years apart in age.

Anyway it's probably been about 40 years since I made a Thanksgiving dinner all by myself. I made the stuffing on Wednesday so only had to heat that up. I made the best apple pie ever Thursday morning. A friend gave me a pumpkin pie so that was easy. I had a 13 pound Butterball turkey that turned out great with the exception of my terrible carving skills. No one cared. LOL We had sweet potatoes and mashed potates and fresh, steamed green beans and also dinner rolls. Those were from a local bakery. Also fresh cranberry sauce that a friend makes and sells at our farmers market. Gravy was Home Chef from Kroger and was the best I have ever had. Everything was ready at the same time - what a miracle. We had red wine and water to drink. We ate at about 4:15 and they stayed until 9:00!! They were such great company and the conversation was enlightening and entertaining. I think it was the most fun Thanksgiving I have had in decades!! I turned down offers to help clean up and sent them home with 10 gladware containers of everything leftover. Perfect. I like cleaning up on my own so I methodically did the dishes and finished at 11:30. I just had some leftover stuffing with gravy. One portion and it's gone. I'm so happy with that. I held back just a little of everything. Works for me.

One of the things I liked the most was how happy it made my elderly friend. She was having such a great time and I learned some new things about her. We have been friends for many years. My younger guest brought beautiful flowers for our centerpiece. The whole thing was just great.

Murraysmom, that gathering sounds like perfection to me. What a lovely day for everyone.

My Thanksgiving was low key, our family, a few friends of our children's who could not get home. The food was the usual fare, and good. I made the turkey, stuffing/dressing and Elmer's cranberry sauce. The rest was brought in from a restaurant and a bakery.

We played games, went for a long walk, nothing to write home about.

Zalco, sounds like a very good day to me. :)

Our Thanksgiving was very quiet this year. Just one of my sons, his wife, and I. While it seemed very strange without the whole gang there, is was nice, and quite relaxing. Son deep fried a wild turkey, and prepared most of the traditional side dishes to go with it. It was all soooooooooo good! ! ! And plenty of leftovers for some freezer meals in the future.

Rusty

Rusty -- So...did you like the wild bird?

After quite a few changes in plans, we wound up with just DH, me and his sister.

I kept things extremely easy. I made cranberry chicken instead of turkey. Stove top stuffing, a fav of DH, yams with marshmellows and frozenh french green beans with almonds.

i made the pumpkin pie the day before.

A friend and her family came by for dessert.

.

My Thanksgiving was pretty wonderful! The east coast contingent (my sister's youngest and her family) joined us - the first time most of the family has seen them in at least 2 years. So we started early by celebrating my niece's birthday the day before. We had a Mexican fiesta (her choice) and several family members who would be elsewhere on T-day came to help us help her to celebrate. The littles, who at 4 and not quite 9 have grown a LOT since we last saw them, were a delight, although still on NY time, they conked out early.

Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by my oldest niece and her hubs and there were 15 of us altogether. And 3 dogs. We had turkey and a turducken, dressing, a bunch of sides and two salads, 2 different gravies and 2 different cranberry sauces. It was all delicious! And a lot of wine was consumed. Dinner was very leisurely and we lingered over apple and pumpkin pie, both gluten free.

We played games after and some worked on the first of the holiday jigsaws. I was back home at a reasonable hour to give my pup his T'day dinner and to relax in peace and quiet. After almost 2 years of very limited family gatherings - and with no smalls involved - that was a lot more people and bustle and family noise/chaos than I have been used to!! 🤗 But I sure enjoyed it!

"Rusty -- So...did you like the wild bird?"

No.

We LOVE the wild turkeys! ! ! This is our 3rd year in a row to have one, and have had a few sporadically before that. We only do domestic turkey if the hunting bombs out.

Rusty

Eld, tell us about your cranberry chicken? I make one but it's with the breasts, not the whole bird.

We finished off the leftovers Saturday night. On Friday we just heated up and plated. By Saturday there was just a little of everything but stuffing, so DH made a kind of shepherd's pie. Mixed the "turkey gribblies" (the turkey left after the slices and chunks are gone), carrots, some frozen peas (the last of a bag), and gravy, and topped with the mashed potatoes, heated in the oven. More like pot pie without the pastry. Yum, and just enough for us three.

What a lovely evening you created, Murraysmom. Your two neighbors will always remember this Thanksgiving.

Well, our belated TG yesterday was....interesting! There were 9 of us plus the 14 month old twins, who kept heading for the kitchen and the dog looking for dropped food!

Everyone had something to bring, but what they did was bring the ingredients! There were up to 6 people in my kitchen prepping at the same time! It's NOT a large kitchen!

THIS is why I never learned how to make gravy! At that point in the prep time, I'm so stressed out and trying to keep people out of the kitchen I run away to decompress!

Thankfully, the weather was beautiful and we took the twins outside to eat rocks and meet the neighbor baby, a few months younger.

We had a 15 lb turkey plus a 3 lb breast, both came out perfectly cooked and juicy. I hit up the dollar store for leftover containers, but hardly anyone took any (except my weird sister who walks into anyone's house and sees what they have for leftovers!), So we have plenty to freeze for later meals!

There was also a gravy-off! I mentioned my thing about not making gravy, so DIL made 10 cups (at home), there was a package that came with the breast, which we froze and I "helped my SIL with one from the drippings and broth using WW flour for my daughter with gestational diabetes.

I would love to post pics, but I don't have this site on my phone or tablet.

Oh yeah! Hubby made tiramisu (low sugar) that was delish! Also DD took a whole pumpkin pie home, left us each a piece, which we wanted, but took the whipped cream home with her. so I had to walk across the street to the store today in order to have my pie!

I went to work. Work put on big spread and was able to bring home food for dinner. Spent the evening reading and went to bed. No different then any other Thursday for me.

@nancyjane_gardener, you wrote: "Thankfully, the weather was beautiful and we took the twins outside to eat rocks and meet the neighbor baby, a few months younger."

I just couldn't not comment....I hope you aren't literally letting you precious grandchildren put rocks in their mouths. One of my friends had her 1 year old grandson become permanently brain damaged when he grabbed a pebble and put it in his mouth before his grandma (who was outside with him) could stop him. He either swallowed or inhaled the rock and it lodged in his throat, cutting off his airway. By the time the medics arrived, he was alive but severely brain damaged. Please don't let them put rocks (or balloons) anywhere near their mouths. I don't want to see any other tragedies like my friend's grandson's.

meh ... great thursday

down with back spasms on Friday. Have had better, great to see the GKs.

We had a great day on Thursday! I went SW to Agoura Hills a week ago; did all sorts of Simi Valley things. Then on Thursday family came to DD's house, and there were 8 of us to share the Leg of Lamb my daughter made... with all the sides. I skipped the pumpkin pie for a nice slice of Cherry Pie... YUM!

The drive back on Saturday was awful! Today, Sunday, I am wiped. I never could take my foot off the pedal and put on the Cruise; and that was going to Fresno. The traffic going toward LA was bumper-to-bumper the whole way. I can't imagine how bad it was today.

Made sure the rocks weren't inhaleable sized!

I had a series of overly large meals... My nephew specifically requested what he calls salty greasy bread ie focaccia.

Thursday I went to my sister’s. My BIL’s (3 of 4) nephews came. And then later a childhood friend and his family came. I made the focaccia and tangzhong rolls. And brought a microgreen salad. My sister and BIL made all the traditional dishes plus more - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, squash and sausage, scallops wrapped in bacon etc... There were a bunch of pies. Maple apple, apple, pumpkin, pecan and chocolate cream. I had tiny pieces of pecan and chocolate cream.

Then Friday we went to my nephew’s who is having great fun cooking of late. He smoked salmon and deep fried a turkey. His girlfriend made all the side dishes including green bean casserole which I had never had. I again made salty greasy focaccia.

Saturday there was a celebration of life for my niece. Lots of the kinds of foods that are cooked in crockpots for events. There was something called cowboy beans which was good - beans and sausage. I made (now renamed crack-bread) focaccia and Dorie Greenspans world peace cookies in honor of my dark chocolate loving niece. The focaccia was gone but there were lots of cookies left over. My great niece (my niece’s niece) seems to approve of them though.

Indifferent Thanksgiving for me, I ruined the gravy by not adding the usual carrots and celery and onion, I didn't care and no one else did either so I didn't want to waste the vegetables and using just poultry seasoning made for green fond and pea green gravy.

I fixed it by starting over with a roux but still it was a whitish cream gravy. I like brown.

I'm never gooking Thanksgiving dinner again. Had a gout attack in my right knee and couldn't be on my feet,my husband and our friend managed to put it together but it was really bad.

agmss15, I LOVE greasy salty bread.